Hoyer Statement on Make It In America Challenge Grants Being Awarded

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today on the Obama Administration’s announcement Tuesday that ten recipients had been awarded Make it in America Challenge grants:

“The success of our economic recovery will depend, in large part, on how well we can grow our manufacturing base, make more products in America, and sell those products around the world. The Obama Administration’s Make it in AmericaChallenge grant program, which complements House Democrats’ Make It In America jobs plan, will help us attract manufacturing jobs back to our shores by investing in training the skilled workforce that can compete for those jobs and promoting manufacturing innovation. The ten initial grantees, receiving a total of $20.5 million of this investment, will lead projects to train workers in new skills, enhance regional supply chains, and promote the return of manufacturing activity to our communities.

“While the Obama Administration continues to do all it can to promote manufacturing job growth, it falls to Congress to take action through legislation in order to set clear national policies that will increase our competitiveness and spur job creation. Make It In America legislation will do so through four key areas of focus: pursuing a national manufacturing strategy, promoting U.S. exports, encouraging the return of jobs and innovation from overseas, and securing and twenty-first century workforce. Our plan has bipartisan support and was crafted based on feedback from both business and labor, and I hope it is an area where Democrats and Republicans in Congress can work together over the coming weeks and months to make progress in a bipartisan way to move our economy forward and help put more of our people back to work.”

Make it in America Challenge grants were unveiled by the Obama Administration in September 2012, and the application process opened this past March. It aims to leverage our country’s strengths as the nation with the most productive workforce and as a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship in order to make our economy more competitive and attract manufacturing development. The program is a collaboration between the Department of the Commerce and the Department of Labor. A full list of grantees can be found here.